Electronic Business Card

I read an article today on Hack-A-Day, about a guy who created an 'electronic' business card. The electronics part of the card make up the game 'SIMON'. You know the game - the game flashes colors and your have to press the corresponding buttons.

Anyway, I didn't like his circuit - he was using a ladder network for the switches - so I re-designed the circuit and managed to get 4 LEDs, 5 buttons, and even a piezo speaker for the beeps and buzzes.

I haven't prototyped it yet, or done any firmware work, but I really like the way the card looks *grin*. I like dark green solder mask, and it looks darker when it's covering traces, so I took advantage of that fact. And I when with white silkscreen for the actual 'business card' part.

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R ! ! ! !

RGB LED Persistence-Of-Vision Display (PIC12F629 & WS2812Bs)

I played around at creating a POV display with red LEDs before - I really want to make another using 24 WS2812B RGB LEDs. So, since I lack parts, I decided to draw up plans. No hardware or software yet - just plans :)

The big question - since the LEDs are addressed serially, and there's 24 LEDs x 24 bits apiece (576 bits total), and the serial bus has a speed of 800Kbps - will I be able to address all of the LEDs in time, or will there be a visually perceptible lag between LED 1 and LED 24?

Fun With A PIC, LEDs, And A Motor

This is a couple of years old, but I never posted it. So, for posterity, here is my attempt at a 'persistence-of-vision' display. Only 5 LEDs on a spinning arm, and definitely a junkyard build, but effective. I used a micro-switch that was bumped every revolution as my '0 degree' indication, which made a lot of noise and reduced the revolutions a bit. It would have been better if I had used a 'hall-effect' sensor (but I didn't have one) or even an infrared emitter/detector. Next revision?

 

Typhoon Yolanda Relief

If you are considering donating monies for Typhoon Yolanda relief, I would ask you to consider donating to this charity in Davao City.

From a friend of mine who lives in Davao City and works with the Family Circus outreach:
 
It's been an honor to work with Darrell & Sandy Blatchley as well as their son Darrell every week at the Family Circus outreach to the poor of Davao City. I need to ask those of you who pray to remember Sandy & Darrell, Jr. They are on their way to the areas struck by the typhoon. One of their tasks will be to handle bodies of the deceased. This is a potentially dangerous mission, because there's the possibility of violence as rescuers meet desperately hungry survivors. Again, I'm honored to know them, & again, please pray for "DD" & his mom.

Homepage: http://familycircus.org/
Donations: http://familycircus.org/html/donations.html